The Hosts of 'America's Test Kitchen' Test Some Chicago Giardiniera and Choose Their Favorite
Daniel Hautzinger
October 28, 2024
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One of the hallmarks of America's Test Kitchen is their rigorous testing of everything involved in home cooking: recipes, techniques, equipment, ingredients. So when hosts Julia Collin Davison and Bridget Lancaster were in Chicago for a WTTW event recently, we invited them around our office table to conduct one of their signature taste tests on a Chicago classic: giardiniera.
This Italian condiment of pickled vegetables in oil is often a topping for Chicago's legendary Italian beef sandwiches, so we had Collin Davison and Lancaster try it out on top of a dipped beef from Portillo's after choosing their favorite. They happily obliged.
Unlike with typical America's Test Kitchen ingredient tests, we only featured three readily available local brands – Vienna Beef, Ditka's, and Southside Smitti's – all in their mild version, and did not have a panel rank and rate them before having Collin Davison and Lancaster try them. Apologies to all of the brands we missed, as well as the house-made giardiniera served at many Italian beef shops. There's a wide variety of giardiniera out there, with different combinations and ratios of vegetables, various degrees of acidity and pickling, and a range of crunchiness of the vegetable. Let us know your favorite by emailing us at [email protected]. In the meantime, see which Collin Davison and Lancaster chose below.
